A road rage incident on the Parkway East/Interstate 376 ended with one driver allegedly pulling a knife and threatening another Thursday morning.

State police told Channel 4 Action News reporter Sheldon Ingram that the incident began near the Churchill exit, where the outbound parkway narrows from three to two lanes.

Advertisement

Police said a woman and a male friend, Niklas Sade, were driving separately in the center and right lanes. As the lanes narrowed, they moved over and the woman in the center lane shifted to the left lane, squeezing another car in the left lane into the Jersey barrier.

The driver of the third car -- Karim Embabi -- said he slammed on his brakes and flattened a tire.

"She was holding her phone with her left-hand side, holding the steering wheel with her right hand, and then she left the steering wheel while driving 55 on 376 to give me the finger," Embabi said.

SLIDESHOW: Pictures From The Scene

Each man accuses the other of trying to run them off the road.

"This guy is swerving between lanes, driving like a maniac, so I got scared," Embabi said.

He exited at Business Route 22 toward Monroeville, and all three cars came to a stop near Nottingham Drive.

Embabi said the other man got out, holding a knife, and kicked his car door and said, "I'll kill you."

"Even the guy on the phone when I was calling 911 heard it, and he said, 'We heard some of that,' " Embabi said.

Sade admitted being very angry but told Ingram that he wasn't holding the knife, which he said was still in his car.

"Who doesn't threaten to kill somebody who tries to wreck into them?" Sade said. "I mean, you yell stuff at people, but when you're in chaos, what are you going to do?"

"I have never seen anybody driving so erratically on purpose in broad daylight for no reason before in my life," Sade said. "I watched my friend get run off the road in my rear-view mirror. You can't drive like that in America. Couldn't read the license plate because he's got that black shield on it."